Pennington sees improvement in loss to Chestnut Hill Academy

By Mike Holcombe, For The Trentonian

Thursday, September 12, 2013

PENNINGTON — Even in its best seasons Pennington can expect to have trouble with Inter-Ac football power Chestnut Hill Academy.

So it was not surprising that the Red Raiders suffered a 27-0 defeat at the hands of the visiting Blue Devils on Thursday in a game that was shortened to three quarters because of the onset of a thunderstorm.

What was more surprising was the way Pennington held its own against a much larger and experienced team. After yielding a pair of touchdowns on Chestnut Hill’s first two possessions, the Raiders dug their heels in, holding the Blue Devil offense at bay until it scored its final touchdown midway through the third quarter.

“We’re definitely young,” Pennington head coach Jerry Eure said. “A lot of our kids never played Pop Warner football and they’re having to learn every week. That was a good team we played, and we played them tough. I was worried when I saw them on film, but we stepped up and played well.

“Our defense has been playing pretty well. It’s our offense that’s been spottier, but in football it takes a lot longer for your offense to come around than it does the defense.”

Chestnut Hill scored its final touchdown on a six-play, 69-yard drive to start the second half. The Blue Devils found the scoring harder to come afterward, even with two drives with short fields.

Chestnut Hill went to the air for its second touchdown as quarterback Paul Dooley hit Dylan Parson for 21 yards to give the Blue Devils a 14-0 lead before the end of the first quarter.

Pennington stopped the next drive near midfield, but that tenacity went unrewarded as a Raider fumble on the next play gave Chestnut Hill the ball on Pennington’s 13-yard line and set up the Blue Devils’ next score.

Chestnut Hill began the game by running over the Raiders as the Blue Devils’ Kyle Lawler picked up 51 yards on three carries to set up the game’s first touchdown, which came on a 13-yard pass to Parson from quarterback Dooley.

On offense, Pennington showed flashes of the talent it has in the skill positions. Jalen Daniels broke off runs of 14 and 10 yards, and quarterback Greg Oldsey showed poise under pressure, finding his favorite receiver, Moses Vigo, five times for 33 yards.

“We’ve got to get something going on offense,” Eure said after Pennington failed to score in each of its first two games. “Every time we get a good drive going we make a mistake. We’ve got to get better every week. Hopefully we can play better next week against Morrisville.”